Enhanced Features of DFIG Wind Energy

Converters regarding new Grid Code Requirements

Roman Bluhm, Jens Fortmann
Repower España S.L., P° Castellana 141 - pta 20, 28046 Madrid, Tel.: 0034917893463
E-mail: R.Bluhm@repower.de, J.Fortmann@repower.de

Abstract – Wind Power is going to cover a major part of the kinds of implementation of voltage control in a wind farm
electrical energy supply of many countries. The increasing are described and compared by simulation. Simulation
development of wind power is causing higher demands on grid results are compared to field test measurements.
compatibility of Wind Energy Converters (WEC).
Manufacturers like REpower are optimising the wind II. BASIC DESIGN OF A WINDFARM WITH DFIG
turbines and control strategies to cope with new requirements WINDTURBINES
and to support grid integration.
Techniques of controllable reactive current infeed and Many Wind Energy Converters use Doubly Fed
voltage control with benefit for grid stability will be described Induction Generators (DFIG). The basic layout of a DFIG-
and visualised by simulations performed with a validated System is shown in figure 1. The aerodynamic rotor of the
model of a modern Multi-Megawatt-WEC, equipped with turbine is coupled to an induction generator via a gear box.
Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG). The results will be The stator windings of the generator are directly connected
compared to field test measurements. to the grid. The rotor windings are connected to a 4
quadrant converter system which consists of a rotor side
Index Terms – Grid fault ride through, continous voltage
control, wind farm controller, Doubly Fed Induction
converter (RSC), a DC link and a line side converter (LSC).
Generator The converter system is responsible for variable speed
operation and reactive current control. Only a part of the
I. INTRODUCTION produced active power has to pass the converter. For this
There is a common political agreement that the fast reason a DFIG system is an advantageous cost- and energy-
growth of wind energy installations will continue during the efficient option compared to full converter systems.
next decade. The European Commission agreed to cover
20% of the European energy consumption by renewable
energy sources in the year 2020. A great part of this
percentage will be coverd by wind energy. Following a
study of the German Energy Agency [1], there will be up to
52.3 GW wind power connected to the German grid in the
year 2020. In Spain, the wind industry sector estimates an
installed capacity of 40 GW by 2020 [2]. Following these
prognoses, wind power is no longer negligible in any
respect.
To manage the system integration of wind energy,
Figure 1 – Basic layout of a DFIG wind turbine
Transmission System Operators (TSO) published special
requirements (Grid Codes) which all newly installed wind
Active and reactive power can be controlled independently
farms have to fulfill. Most Grid Codes focus on the
by decoupled control algorithms of the fast current control
behaviour of Wind Energy Converters (WEC) during grid
of the RSC. The LSC is mainly used to maintain the DC-
faults like voltage dips. In the past, immediate
link voltage and can supply additional reactive power. The
disconnection was required in this case. At present WEC
turbine Control System also uses the pitch angle of the
have to guarantee to stay connected during different kinds
aerodynamic rotor to control generator speed at high wind
of faults and have to supply reactive current during the
speeds. A transformer connects the DFIG system, which
fault. Grid Codes also adress the support of grid stability
operates at low voltage (LV, e.g. 690V), to the medium
during normal operation. Different kinds of reactive power
voltage (MV, e.g. 20 kV) grid. The turbine control system
supply or voltage control are demanded by TSOs.
may control the active and reactive power output at LV or
This paper shows results of continous voltage control, MV side of the transformer.
using the same control characteristic during grid fault and
Most Grid Codes demand to control active and reactive
normal operation in a wind farm of wind turbines with
power at the grid connection point or point of common
doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). Three different
coupling (PCC), which is usually located at medium or high
voltage (HV, e.g. 110 kV) side of the HV transformer. For
this task a wind farm controller can be installed at the PCC,
as shown in figure 2. The wind farm controller can receive
setpoints for active power reduction, reactive power or
voltage control from the Control Centre of the TSO and
control these setpoints at the PCC by sending control
signals to all turbines of the windfarm.

Figure 3 – Voltage Control characteristic with dead band, Eon [3]

Figure 2 – Basic layout of wind farm and control signals

III. GRID CODE REQUIREMENTS FOR VOLTAGE CONTROL

The existing requirements of TSOs for voltage control
are quite different. The German TSO Eon [3] and the VDN
Transmission Code 2007 [4] demand reactive current infeed
proportional to the voltage outside of the normal operation
range of +- 10 percent of nominal voltage. The maximum
required reactive current is equal to the nominal current:
Iq max = I nominal = 1p.u.
Figure 4 – Continous Voltage Control characteristic, National Grid [5]
The characteristc is shown in figure 3 and can be
described as voltage control with dead band.
The British TSO National Grid requires a continous
voltage control as shown in figure 4. The control is
continously acting inside the standard voltage range without
dead band. Compared to the Eon requirement, the actuating
variable is reactive power instead of reactive current.
National Grid also defines the transient behaviour during a
step response as shown in figure 5. 90 percent of the
requiered reactive power should occur within 1 second. The
maximum required reactive power (Qmax) is defined as a
power factor of 0.95 at rated power, which is equivalent to
about 0.33 p.u. (per unit) of nominal power:
Q max = tan(acos(0.95)) ⋅ 1p.u. ≈ 0.33 p.u.
Considering these requirements, manufacturers of wind
turbines are investigating enhanced control features to Figure 5 – Step response of Voltage Control, National Grid [6]
support the grid integration of large amounts of wind
energy.
 IV. VOLTAGE CONTROL IMPLEMENTATION
A. General Layout
The central point of a voltage controller is to calculate the
setpoint for reactive power depending on the voltage. A
general block diagram for a proportional characteristic is
shown in figure 6. The voltage measurement (U_meas) is
subtracted from the voltage setpoint (U_set) to calculate the
voltage deviation (∆U). This deviation is multiplied by the
proportional control factor KVC to calculate the reactive
power setpoint (Q_set). Depending on the desired control
characteristic, a reactive current setpoint (Iq_set) can be
used instead of the reactive power setpoint.
Figure 6 – Proportional Voltage Control block diagram
The control algorithm is usually set up in per unit values
based on nominal voltage and nominal power or nominal
current. The proportional control factor KVC represents the
slope of the voltage control characteristic in figure 3 and
figure 4 and is calculated as follows:
∆Iq 1.00 p.u.
KVC Eon = = =2
∆U 0.5 p.u.
∆Q 0.33 p.u.
KVC G = = = 6.6
∆U 0.05 p.u.
The slope definition of National Grid is not equivalent to
the proportional control factor KVC, because it refers to the
percentage change in voltage, which results in the
maximum reactive power setpoint. In the example above of
KVCNG = 6.6, National Grid would talk about a slope of 5
percent.
The proportional voltage controller has no integral term
and for this reason the voltage setpoint can not be adjusted
exactly. Besides the availiable reactive power would not
have sufficient influence on the grid voltage in most cases.
Only the resulting reactive power or reactive current
setpoint of the voltage controller can be adjusted exactly.
B. Implementation on turbine level
Grid fault voltage drops are transient events, which in
most cases do not last longer than 300 ms. An effective
voltage support during these events is only possible with
very fast response times of few tens of miliseconds. To
achieve such fast response times, voltage has to be
controlled directly in the converter control, locally on
turbine level. Power converters based on IGBT (Insulated
Gate Bipolar Transistor) technology allow a reaction within
miliseconds. Due to decoupled control algorithms, the
reactive current can be controlled independently of the
active current. The detailed implemention on turbine level
with control equations has already been described in [7], [8]
and [9].
The local voltage control is basically used to fulfil the
fault ride through requirement with reactive current support
as shown in the characteristic with dead band (figure 3).
Instead of using a dead band with power factor control, it
can be advantageous for grid stability to keep the local
voltage control activated during normal operation. There
will be no switching of the control strategy at the limits of
the standard voltage range. A steady state limitation enables
higher currents in case of grid faults but limits the reactive
current during normal operation. During grid faults, the
reactive current infeed can be temporarily increased up to
approximately nominal current. When this limit is reached,
the proportional voltage control characteristic remains
constant (see figure 7). Due to the importance of reactive
current infeed during grid faults, the priority of control may
be changed from active to reactive current.
An additional advantage of the local voltage control is its
inherent capability to reduce voltage differences between
wind turbines within a wind farm. Voltage deviations
within a wind farm can become a problem in wind farms
located along a long distribution line. Using a power factor
controller at the turbine and identical power factor setpoints
for all turbines, the voltage would increase along the line
with each turbine. In case of high grid voltages or high
capacitive power factor setpoints, this could lead to an
undesired shutdown of turbines at the end of the line. Using
voltage control, all turbines can control their optimum
voltage setpoint and remain within safe voltage operating
limits.
C. Implementation on wind farm level
The steady state requirements for reactive power supply
during undisturbed operation are usually defined at the grid
connection point, see for example figure 4. Due to the
reactive power losses of the medium and/or high voltage
transformer and cable lines, a local voltage control can not
exactly adjust the PCC reactive power setpoint. For this
task, a wind farm controller is installed, like illustrated in
figure 2. Based on measurement and control at the PCC, the
wind farm controller calculates setpoints that have to be
transferred to the individual turbines.
Because of the distance and communication delays
between the controlled point (PCC) and the actuator (WEC)
the time constant of this central voltage control is limited.
The requirement of National Grid is to achieve 90 percent
of the requiered reactive power within 1 second (see figure
5), which is already a challenging task for many wind
farms. For this reason the central voltage control is only
used to guarantee the exact steady state values at the PCC,
but can not deliver very fast response during grid fault
voltage drops.
D. Combined Implementation
A combination of both, central and local voltage control
can combine their favorable characteristics with benefit for
grid stability. The continous voltage control on turbine level
delivers a very fast response to deep voltage drops and also
to small voltage deviations inside the standard operation
range. The combination with voltage control on wind farm
level ensures an exact adjustment of the required reactive
power value at the grid connection point. A stable control Figure 7 – Voltage control characteristic in simulation study
of the combined controller can be guaranteed because the
time constant of the subordinate local control is more than
10 times faster than the time constant of the wind farm
controller. The settings like slope or response time of the
combined voltage control can be easily adapted to achieve
the desired characteristics required at different connection
points or in different countries.
V. SIMULATION STUDY
A. Simulation Setup
A simulation study is carried out to analyse the behaviour
of the described implementation modes of voltage control.
The simulation is performed with the software Matlab-
Simulink with a model of a REpower MM turbine with a
nominal power of two megawatt. The model was validated
with measurements obtained by a field test measurement
campaign. The wind farm layout is as shown in figure 2
with a ratio of windfarm nominal power to grid short circuit
power of 1:20. The windfarm is running at rated active
power output. The turbine control point is located at low
voltage side of the LV/MV transformer and the proportional
control factor KVC of turbine and wind farm voltage
controller is set to 4:
1.00 p.u.
KVC study = =4
0.25 p.u.
Figure 7 shows the resulting characteristic for a voltage
setpoint of 1.0 per unit. The reactive power setpoint at a
voltage of 1.0 per unit is zero and a voltage deviation of Figure 8 – Response of 4 different control modes to a 5% voltage step,
0.25 per unit results in the maximum reactive current values in per unit at PCC
setpoint of 1.0 per unit. The reactive current setpoint stays
constant for voltages lower than 0.75 per unit. Positive sign Three modes of voltage control implementation, local
of reactive current stands for capacitive or overexcited (“VC turbine”), central (“VC wind farm”) and combined
operation which results in rising voltage. (“VC combined”) are compared to constant power factor
operation (“cosPhi=1”) in figure 8. This case represents a
common situation in rural areas with a high percentage of
B. Voltage deviation
wind power infeed and low short circuit power of the grid,
The simulation case shows the control behaviour during a where voltage deviations are a challenge that grid operators
small step of the grid voltage of 5% inside the standard have to face. Such sudden voltage changes are due to far
operating range. grid faults or switching actions. The alternating active
power of the wind energy source and global settings for corresponds to reactive power of about 0.25 per unit,
reactive power like a fixed power factor setpoint for a because of the low voltage.
whole country can lead to additional voltage deviations.
Voltage control can improve the situation by using the
reactive power range of the wind turbines to minimise the
voltage fluctuation and to keep the voltage inside the
admissible range.
The simulation result in figure 8 shows that all modes of
voltage control support the grid voltage after the voltage
step. Without reactive power, the grid voltage would fall
about 5%, like the blue dotted line with a cos Phi equal to
one. The turbine voltage control (cyan dashdot line)
delivers a very fast response, but does not reach the
requiered steady state value for reactive power at the PCC,
because the controlled point is at turbine low voltage side.
The shown PCC values of the turbine voltage control are
shifted due to the transformer and cable impedance.
The wind farm voltage control shows a slower response
(green dashed line), but still fulfils the National grid
requirement of figure 5. The required steady state value is
reached after about 2 seconds.
The combined voltage control (red solid line) shows both
very fast reaction time and exact steady state control at the
PCC with a very favorable, less oscillating characteristic.
The new steady state voltage of this control mode is about Figure 9 – Field test measurement of combined voltage control, response
0.966 per unit, corresponding to a voltage control deviation to small voltage step, values in per unit at PCC
of 0.034 per unit, which results in reactive power delivery
of 0.136 per unit. These values confirm the setting of the
control factor KVC, because 0.136 is 4 times 0.034.

VI. MEASUREMENT RESULTS

A. Small voltage drop
Figure 9 shows a field test measurement result of
combined voltage control that confirms the fast response
time. The small voltage drop was generated by switching a
serial impedance. In this case additional compensation
terms for transformer and cable line were used in the
turbine controller. For this reason the steady state value is
reached even faster than in the simulation case and the
transient behaviour is slightly different. The voltage
setpoint was set to 0.93 per unit, which results in maximum
inductive reactive power before the voltage drop. After the
drop, the reactive power rises but stays inductive, because
the measured voltage of 0.98 per unit is still higher than its
setpoint.
B. Deep voltage drop
Figure 10 shows the performance of local voltage control
during a 500 milisecond symmetrical voltage drop to 20
percent residual voltage. The measurement was done on
medium voltage side of the turbine transformer. The local
Figure 10 – Field test measurement of local voltage control, response to
voltage control is essential for the fast reactive current voltage drop to 20%, values in per unit, turbine MV-side
response. The high reactive current of about 1 per unit only
 During such deep voltage drops, very high currents have
to be managed by the DFIG system. Appropriate protection
devices are necessary to withstand the overcurrents. Based
on new techniques, modern WEC with DFIG ride through
these grid faults without disconnection.
VII. SUMMARY
High participation of wind power generation in European
grids is a challenge that grid operators and the wind energy
sector have to face during the next decade. Grid codes
already require wind farms to contribute to stable network
operation. Wind turbines with doubly fed induction
generators can fulfil these requirements and supply even
faster highly dynamic reactive current support.
A simulation study compared three modes of voltage
control with a constant cos Phi operation. As a result, the
combination of local and central implementation of voltage
control in a windfarm shows the most favorable behaviour.
Field test measurement results confirm the achievable fast
response times and control characteristics.
With this kind of voltage control, wind farms are able to
contribute to voltage stability in a similar way as
conventional power plants. Together with other features
like active power reduction on demand and frequency
control, the planed integration of wind energy will become
a manageable task.
[3] Eon Netz GmbH, “Grid Code High and Extra High
Voltage”, online: http://www.eon-netz.com/, Bayreuth,
2006
[4] VDN: Transmission Code 2007, Netz- und
Systemregeln der deutschen Übertragungsnetz-
betreiber, Version 1.1, August 2007
[5] The Grid Code, National Grid Electricity
Transmission, Warwick, 8th December 2008
[6] Guidance Notes for Power Park Developers, National
Grid, Warwick, September 2008
[7] J. Fortmann, I.Erlich et al.: “A novel centralised wind
farm controller utilising voltage control capability of
wind turbines”, PSCC Paper, Glasgow, 2008
[8] I. Erlich, C.Feltes, J. Fortmann, et al.: „Wind Energy
Converters with Doubly Fed Asynchronous Generator
and improved behaviour regarding new Grid Code
Requirements“ ETG-Fachbericht 115, Schutz- und
Leittechnik 2008, VDE Verlag GmbH, Berlin, 2008
[9] I. Erlich, J. Kretschmann, J. Fortmann, et al.:
“Modeling of Wind Turbines based on Doubly-Fed
Induction Generators for Power System Stability
Studies”, IEEE 2007 Transactions on Power Systems,
Volume 22, Issue 3, Pages 909-919
[10] Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on
Large Scale Integration of Wind Power into Power
Systems as well as on Transmission Networks for
Offshore Wind Farms, Madrid, May 2008.

VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Roman Bluhm (1977) received his Dipl. Ing. degree in
energy systems engineering from the University of
Clausthal, Germany. In 2004 he joined the R&D
department of REpower Systems AG, Germany with focus
on grid connection and simulation. Since 2008 he is R&D
engineer in REpower España S.L., Madrid.
Jens Fortmann (1966) received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in
electrical engineering from the Technical University Berlin,
Germany, in 1996. From 1995 to 2002 he worked for the
wind turbine manufacturers Suedwind and Nordex Energy.
Since 2002 he is with REpower Systems AG, Germany as
project manager for the simulation and implementation of
new technologies for improved grid compatibility of wind
turbines.
REFERENCES
[1] Deutsche Energieagentur, "English summary of the
dena Grid Study", online,
http://www.deutscheenergieagentur.de, 2005
[2] AEE press release 16.11.2007, www.aeeolica.es
“NP_071116_Industria_Eolica_duplicara_potencia_ant
es_de_2016.pdf”